The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Onuzo, Chibundu. Sankofa. Catapult, 2021.

Chibundu Onuzo's novel Sankofa is written from her main character Anna Graham's first person point of view. The novel adheres to a largely linear plot structure, and employs the present and past tenses. The following summary relies upon the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

Anna Graham grows up in London, England with her single, white mother, Bronwen. As a mixed-race child without a father, Anna is curious to know more about her heritage. However, no matter how many questions she asks her mother, Bronwen provides no answers. She not only refuses to talk about race, but will only provide Anna with her father's name: Francis Aggrey. Over the years, Anna's youthful dreams of finding Francis fade.

When she is in her early twenties, Anna meets and falls in love with a white man named Robert. She quickly learns to rely upon Robert for a sense of safety, security, and identity. With time, she realizes that constantly deferring to Robert's opinions and mode of operation has left her without any agency. Indeed, after they have their daughter, Rose, Anna feels more entrapped than ever. She longs to talk to someone about motherhood, but cannot connect with her mother. She desperately wants to communicate with Rose about what it means to be mixed-race, but Robert discourages her.

Years later, when Rose is a young woman, Anna discovers that Robert has been cheating on her. She feels humiliated and ashamed. She and Robert separate. For nearly two years afterwards, Anna cannot bring herself to file for divorce. Rose does not approve of her parents' situation, and pressures her mother to find a lawyer. What Anna does not tell her daughter is that she is afraid she will lose her sense of self without Robert. She has spent most of her adult life with him, and worries that a divorce will upset her understanding of herself and her reality.

Then, six months after Anna's mother dies, Anna decides to sort through her late mother's belongings. Inside one of Bronwen's trunks, Anna unexpectedly discovers her estranged father's diary. As soon as she begins reading, Anna feels enamored and intrigued. She cannot believe that the author of the diary is in fact her father, the man about whom her mother concealed everything. The more she reads, the more connected Anna feels to Francis. Yet she also feels confused. She cannot understand why her father would have left her mother only shortly before Bronwen learned she was pregnant. Neither can she understand why Bronwen never contacted Francis to tell him the truth.

By researching Francis in the library and online, Anna discovers that Francis became Kofi Adjei, a radical political leader in the West African nation of Bamana. Determined to reconcile these competing versions of her father, Anna arranges a trip overseas. When she arrives in Segu, Bamana, she feels overwhelmed and confused. She used all of her courage just taking the trip. The unfamiliar environment makes her question her decision.

During her first visit with Kofi, Anna explains everything. Furious at what Anna is suggesting, Kofi throws her out. Not long later, however, Kofi conducts a paternity test and realizes Anna has been telling the truth. In order to make amends, he extends her trip in Bamana. Over the course of the following weeks, the two spend an increasing amount of time together. The more Anna learns about him, the more conflicted she feels. She wants to be close to Kofi and to have his approval, yet is confused by his dubious political allegiances. By the end of the novel, Anna and Kofi work out their differences. Through one another they learn more about themselves.